


It's A Bloody Small World, Indeed!

by DixieDale



Series: The Life and Times of One Peter Newkirk [15]
Category: Clan O'Donnell - Fandom, Hogan's Heroes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-21
Updated: 2018-05-21
Packaged: 2019-05-09 18:50:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14721645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DixieDale/pseuds/DixieDale
Summary: The letter from Coura was just chock full of surprises, as always, but the casual little tidbits she dropped in certainly livened the place up more than expected.  The first, that the Clan matriarch had actually given some thought to farming out Coura and her twin brother to the Heroes for a brief 'training course', Newkirk thought the guys were going to choke, never mind the thunderstruck look that had come over the Colonel's face. But the real clincher?  Well that had to be the news that Marya Parmanova (yes, the White Russian that Louie was head over heels for) had mentored one of the Clan youngsters at the same time Newkirk had mentored the Brat?  Newkirk was beginning to wonder if those letters were worth the grey hairs they seemed to give him, between LeBeau's estatic reaction and Hogan's less than pleasant one.  And if Coura's calm acceptance of certain after-war possibilities for the little Frenchman raised more than a few eyebrows, well, it put certain rather tempting ideas into Newkirk's mind (along with blushes to his cheeks).





	It's A Bloody Small World, Indeed!

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, the letters from home aren't real exciting for some, but the guys really looked forward to them, and it's amazing just what pieces of information were slipped to them amongst all the idle chatter. And they sure gave Andrew a whole bunch of new questions to pester Newkirk with!

Mail call again, again a list of names, some happy faces, some disappointed ones, it didn't change, only which faces were which. Still, mail was something that was shared; it pretty well evened out, though there were a couple of guys who hardly ever got mail, and Schultz was sorry for them. Still, they read their letters out loud, so everyone got to share as best they could. He himself got to share in some of the mail, because these were good boys, even if they did get up to monkey business, and they let him listen sometimes when they read the letters. The Englander, Newkirk, now he was different; he would read his letters to himself many times, they all did, and would share with the others, but not always on mail day, usually much later; the ones from the woman called Caeide were very peaceful, very beautiful in their own way, but not romantic, so he did not know what relationship she had with him; she was not his sister, he knew that; the sister's name was Mavis, and her letters were filled with troubles and sadness, such hard times they had in their home now.

No, the letters from Caeide were different, and Schultz could have wished Newkirk would read them out loud more often, they made him think of the soft spring rains and green fields and warm fires, many things from his youth when he spent holidays with his grandparents in the country.

Young Sergeant Carter, Andrew, had a pen pal who wrote often, and Hans Schultz liked hearing her letters, though they confused him greatly sometimes. Still, maybe American girls were just different than German girls, and the language was still a problem, so maybe he just misunderstood some of what he heard. Sometimes the guys would explain, and sometimes they didn't; last time, when Schultz had asked, the Cockroach, LeBeau, had said HE didn't understand some of the words she used, but he wasn't sure that was true, because the Frenchman was giggling, and the Englander turned red and was looking like he was about to burst open with trying to keep from laughing, and then he didn't try anymore and fell back into Carter's bunk laughing and couldn't stop. Still, LeBeau was French, maybe he DIDN'T understand that strange word. And everytime he tried to ask the Englander, he just got that silly look again. When Schultz asked Carter, though, Carter said he didn't know what the word meant either, and Schultz was sure Carter would not lie to him. Carter was a very nice boy.

He poured himself a cup of coffee, and went to stand beside the door, where if the BigShot Kommandant found him, he could say he was just on his way out. He waited and soon, he heard what he was waiting for, "hey, guys, she's written me again," and everyone cheered. It seemed that everyone had adopted this girl, everyone except for Colonel Hogan, who seemed annoyed by her letters, for some reason. He didn't understand it himself; her letters were interesting for the guys, sometimes they laughed, and sometimes they got in long discussions. Surely that was better than boredom or sadness!

 

***Coura to Andrew J Carter

Hi, Andrew,

I know I promised to write as soon as we got back from the field trip, and I know it's been a while longer than you may have expected it to be, but it was really a big mess and took awhile to straighten out. You know I told you the team leader was someone we'd not worked with before, and it turns out he's someone we won't be working with again. I'm not supposed to talk about what happened, at least not the details; the job got done alright, but two of his people got hurt, one pretty bad, and he didn't even really seem to care."After all", he told us, when Douglas braced him on it, "we got the job done, and the bosses will be really pleased, and that's what's important." He tried to backhand Douglas for even trying to talk to him about it. Well, I mean, that's not what we've been taught, we're taught there has to be a balance, and you don't just shrug off one of your own people getting hurt, and you sure don't let them get hurt on purpose just to save time or to make things easier for the boss! He said we were namby-pambies and just wanted to do things the easy way, and he was going to tell Grandmother a thing or two about raising weaklings.

I hope we get to be there when he does; they say I get my temper from her line, so it should be interesting, because I really was ready to kick him in the b***s for trying to hit my brother, and Douglas had to stop me. He did tell me if I ever needed to, I'd need to take a step or two further back first, since the guy is so much taller than I am, that I'd maybe be better off with a knee instead, but I think that would be even more of a stretch.

Rodney says I'd be better off using my fist, but "tuck a roll of coin in your fist, keep your thumb on the outside and aim for 'is nuts; works a pip, it does!", and that sounds like it might work as long as I don't telegraph my punch. I need to practice that, but it's difficult getting anyone to let you practice on them; Douglas agreed and said the instructors should tailor make one of the dummies to act as the target, but that HE sure didn't intend to let me practice on him either. He said I should let Katy teach me a few such moves; seems she's been practicing a lot lately for some reason; I think she has someone in mind when she does.***

Peter frowned; he'd worried about the two youngsters on their 'field trip', though he kept telling himself he shouldn't. He never met them, they weren't his concern, but they were Caeide's brother and sister, and he just couldn't seem to help worrying for them. He also didn't much like the sound of what that blighter had been telling them; sounded right off, it did! Weaklings! He knew something about the females of this family, and that wasn't one of the top one hundred words that'd 'ave come to 'is mind! No, nor the top five hundred either, think on!

Acourse, did sound like the girl got the family temper; 'e'd been on the wrong side of that a time or two, as he remembered; also remembered the boys 'ad seemed to be more even mannered, like, at least the ones he'd taught, but certainly not weaklings! He winced, to think about Goniff's advice and the 'practicing', and knew Douglas had the right of it; he'd not be about volunteering to work with her on it either! And the thought of Caeide 'practicing' a lot lately, well that just made him plain nervous, that did!

Schultz was wide eyed, as was Carter at the advice given, and Louie shook his head in amusement. }

***Anyway, we made it back and made our report, and boy was the Grandmother pissed! She talked to us, then went and talked to the other people who were on the field trip, including the two guys who were hurt, and then called the leader in and fired him. He got really mad and yelled at her! Told her that she was raising a bunch of sissies! Told her he was trying to instill some guts, some courage! She told him courage was good, bravado wasn't, and stupidity surely didn't have to be taught, but it seemed he'd be really good at it if ever it DID need to be taught, and she'd be glad to give him a recommendation! and it got really loud. For someone her age, (she's ninety-four almost), she cusses really good!

Yelling at her wasn't really such a good idea, I guess; she called the people he worked for and cancelled their entire contract for Practicums, said if they can't make better choices for their team leaders than this b***, then she didn't see any point in continuing the relationship!***

Everyone's eyes were big. The leader was a female, in her nineties? One who cussed?? Only Peter was not surprised, {"figures, seems about right, in fact! Could easily see Caeide at ninety four, telling someone to fuckin' sod off!"} and he hurrumphed in amusement. His team looked at him, consideringly, as he sat there, nodding to himself, chuckling.

***Douglas and me, we weren't sure what that meant for the rest of our Practicum year; all the other teachers were tied up already, but the Grandmother found a really neat solution! We are going to go spend the rest of the summer with Meg and work with Rodney and his friends. Grandmother says between the lot of them, they probably have more knowledge and experience than a lot of the teachers the others are studying with, and that was a relationship she was more than willing to see grow deeper anyway.***

The guys just laughed, thinking, yeah, I'll just bet they do! Seeing as how they knew the guys somewhat, and had an idea of what skills they had between them!

***She said she'd thought of Mr. Eastender and his friends too, that they had equally as much to offer in the way of skills and talent, though with somewhat different types of talents and styles, but she figured his boss wouldn't much go for that idea, and that the accommodations might be difficult to arrange. Still, for some reason, she liked the idea a whole lot; she chuckled when she told us about it; she said she was really tempted to do it anyway, just have us sorta 'drop in on them'. Said it could be very educational, all around. In the end, though, she decided against it.***

Peter went pale, looking up at Hogan with wide eyes. {"Cor, I'd think not!"} Hogan's jaw dropped at the thought of two Clan youngsters showing up on HIS doorstep for an extended sabbatical at Stalag 13. Peter watched him, and suppressed a slightly hysterical giggle at the thought. {"No, not a good idea at all!"}. The others had turned various shades of red or purple, depending on their complexions, as they tried not to think of that outcome. After a quick glance, everyone was very careful not to look at Hogan again for awhile.

 

***Grandmother got Rodney's boss's boss, that's the Kevin I wrote to you about, to agree to the guys teaching us; Douglas says HE thinks she threatened to send us to HIM for the summer if he didn't agree. For some reason, Douglas says, with that smirk he uses sometimes, the one I think he got from Rodney, I seem to make Kevin just a bit nervous. I had to giggle at that, and told Douglas, well, I probably shouldn't say in a letter, but Douglas groaned and said it was just as well we were going to Meg's instead. That he wanted to learn a lot this summer, and not be distracted by me practicing 'cutting and cornering', that he'd had enough of all that while watching the sheepdogs practicing up at Katy's farm for the trials last year, and the sheep didn't seem nearly as nervous about the sheepdogs as Kevin was about me.***

Even knowing Kevin was a bleedin' officer, and he had no liking for officers in the general run of things, Peter took a moment to send a heartfelt blast of sympathy his way. He remembered that kind of 'nervous', and it sounded like young Coura fully intended to put the officer through as much, if not likely much more, than Caeide had put him through. At least with Caeide, he thought most of that had been unintentional, which he surely could tell was NOT the case with this young one! At a questioning glance from Andrew, Peter just shook his head; he had a good idea what 'cutting and cornering' meant, but really didn't want to discuss it in terms of young Coura and the officer.

***We just kinda showed up on Meg's doorstep, and she was really surprised, but she called the Grandmother who explained, and we all went to the guys' house to ask them, and they said yes! I think Rodney was really kinda relieved when I told him we'd be in the THIRD cottage down from Meg, not in the same one as her. I had to kinda giggle at the look on his face at first, poor thing, but he perked up after we told him that. I guess looking at a month or more of two kids perched in the bedroom next to your lady friend's didn't seem like a lot of fun! Rodney was really nice about it all though; he really is just nice all around, and I'm glad he and Meg are together. His boss is really nice too; he was fine with them teaching us, though he seemed just as relieved with us being in that third cottage as Rodney was for some reason; the three of them all seem to get along really good together.***

Schultz blushed, {"I wouldn't like that either. We had a time when my wife's younger sister stayed with us, it was a very small apartment, and it was most uncomfortable! Everytime the bedsprings squeaked, I froze and my wife scolded and her sister giggled!"} All of the guys stole a fast look at each other after that paragraph about the sleeping arrangements, and Peter gave a restrained snicker at the 'the three of them all seem to get along really good together. {"Yeah, I kinda think they do!"}, though he was careful not to look at Hogan while he was thinking that. He was pretty sure the expression he'd see wouldn't be one of indulgent amusement. He did catch a glance at Andrew's face though, and the expression there rather puzzled him, almost one of gentle contemplation, with just a hint of a smile. {"No, I'm imagining things; doubt Andrew 'as a clue what all that means! If 'e did, I'd be getting all kinds a questions, now wouldn't I?"}

***We like the others too, and expect to learn all kinds of interesting and useful things. When the guys are out on a job, we'll work with Meg on a whole bunch of stuff too, and the caretaker of the guys' house, who is really talented at stuff we need to know as well. All in all, it should be one of the best summers ever! It's hard to think Internship will be any better, but I'm told it will be.

I asked if I'd go to the same town where Katy went for her Internship, but my Dad just growled and said something about 'needing some kind of balance, don't you think?!" And how they didn't really have a qualified mentor there right now, and even Mr. Alf was busy doing other things; I told him I thought I could probably learn most of what was needed from Katy. Mom agreed, since Katy has made sure to stay in practice with everything, but said it wasn't just the skills and talents, there were other things to be learned, and that meant me going somewhere outside the family.

So we are still looking at the options; Grandmother says she'll evaluate me when I get back after this summer and see what she thinks will fit best. The idea is for us to take our Internship doing something that prepares us for the life we want to live, not just the life we have the talent for, but the war kinda changes that, and sometimes what we think is what we'd use turns out to not be that so much, if any of that makes any sense. I mean, I don't know that Katy actually uses all of what she learned from Mr. Eastender, at least not much, not on the farm anyway, but she keeps at it, and can teach it well enough if she needs to, and can use it in an emergency, or on a special project like she does sometimes, and is still better than most who do it for a living. I know she slapped some guy when we were in the big city together last time, told him he had the touch of an elephant. Of course, Katy never thought she'd inherit the farm either, so she had to adjust to that, and other things sorta came up unexpectedly too, so I see what Mom means.***

Peter snickered at that; "so some poor fool tried to pick 'er pocket, did 'e? Lucky she didn't knacker 'im! She never did 'ave any patience for sloppy work!"

***Anyway, Mom says it's not just the skills like we'd think of them that we learn, that we probably DO need to sit down with Katy and the others and really TALK about their Internship year; about what they learned that might not be what you'd usually think about as being learned. I know that doesn't make much sense, but Mom says it will if we can get them to really sit down and talk to us. She says we should talk to Katy and Cally, especially, about how life can change so much during that year, that everything you thought you understood can change, and how you have to change with it.

Speaking of, I met up with my cousin Cally last week, and you'll never guess! Over the summer, she ran into and spent a little time with her former teacher, Miss Mary Russ who says she's met you!! Says she also knows one of your friends, called him 'my little one', and with such affection in her voice. Isn't that funny? It's a small world, just like they say. Turns out she's met Mr. Eastender as well. Cally says Miss Mary shook her head and laughed a bit when she realized that, and said she'd obviously not been paying nearly enough attention during their meeting, but that she'd been distracted by the job she was on; that otherwise she should have recognized him by what Cally had shared from the letters Cally and Katy exchanged that year Cally was with her, and Cally said she gave that wonderful big puuurrrrr of hers. (Cally says that purr makes her clench, whatever that means!) And Miss Mary said that it was unfortunate that business always seemed to override pleasure these days, and she'd have to pay more attention when she ran into him next time.***

Peter's eyes got big, and he looked at Louie in shock, then over at Kinch and Carter, finally, reluctantly, up at the Colonel, who looked like thunder. Well, he often did when one of the girl's letters arrived, but probably more so at that disclosure. Louie's eyes were as big as they could get, though, and his mouth hung open. He whispered to Peter, "Mary Russ - my beloved Marya??" Peter groaned, "Well why not, seems every other bleedin' connection is popping up, why not that one." And Louis grinned! Peter was apprehensive; the last thing he wanted from Marya was for her to pay him more attention! Just bring him more trouble, most like! If not from the Germans and the Russians, then from Hogan! {And just what the bloody 'ell 'ad been in those letters, anyway??!}

***Anyway, it seems she's been keeping busy, doing this and that and the other. Cally just shook her head and laughed and said, "And I'll just bet she has been!" and grinned. "She never was one to depend on someone else to get the job done, not when she could lend a hand and make SURE it was done and done right!" Cally said that watching her mind work was like watching someone play three-dimensional chess blindfolded, absolutely amazing!***

Hogan shook his head, in disgust, remembering her "But Hogan, daarrrlliingg! We cannot count on Hitler killing ALL of his own generals; we have to do some of that ourselves!" Yes, that was her alright, but what was her connection to THEM?!}

***Then Cally got real serious and said, "But I'll be glad when she's able to not be so very busy, maybe." I think Cally worries about her and misses her, in fact I know she does. I wonder sometimes . . . Both Cally and Katy get the oddest look on their faces when they talk about their Internship, all happy and sad and kinda wistful, all at the same time. They are the same age, you know, so their Internships happened at the same time, but with different mentors.

When the others are squiring around new 'acquaintances' to the gatherings, or pair off with someone raised with or around the family, they never do, and the tasis among us, the ones who like to try matching people off, well they leave Cally and Katy alone; a few of them tried for awhile, but old Gella told the lot of them, 'why waste our time and annoy them?' She laughed that gurgle of a laugh of hers, and said, 'what's done is done; best spend our time more profitably annoying those we might make headway with, and who are less likely to hang us upside down from a tree for trying to interfere in something it's too late to change anyway!'

When a group of those who've gone through the internships are talking, the two of them will look at each other, and smile that funny little smile, like they're remembering, like they know things the others don't. And I know both of those teachers were added to the Friends and Family list that same year when Katy and Cally came back home, which isn't such an easy thing to get on, I can tell you that, especially on the Family side, which is where they are both listed!**

Peter frowned again. Surely not! He knew why he'd been added to that list, all mistakenly in his own opinion, but the Clan wouldn't listen to reason, but the Russian woman?? Still, knowing what he did of the Clan and their customs, guess it was possible, but Marya?? The baracuda of all females, the femme fatale of all femme fatales? The one who kept disrupting their lives, treating Hogan like a puppy's squeeze toy, making him yelp with aggravation, treating Louie like a stuffed bear, hugging him and making him squeal with pleasure?? Hmmm.

***Anyway, Cally said she'd like to meet your friend, that they probably have lots in common, and that Miss Mary speaks of him with true affection, calls him a 'dear'. That's rare, you know; Cally says she's a lot like your old friend Mari, knows and plays the game really well, but knows how to keep the business separate. You know, lots of 'darlings', but very, very few 'dears'. Yes, I think Cally would like to get to know your friend; perhaps together they could make things more comfortable, more pleasant for Miss Mary when she finally has time to step away from the business side, more comfortable and more pleasant for all of them, maybe.***

Outside, a harsh call, "Sergeant Schultz?!! ". And with a murmured farewell, Schultz grabbed his rifle and blundered out the door.

Peter swallowed and froze. {"I can't look at the Colonel, he's hopefully not understanding any of that,"} thinking of all the 'Hogan, darrrrlllllingggs!" Marya had thrown around so often! {"I can't look at Louie, either; hopefully he's still stuck on the fact that Marya thinks kindly of him. I sure as 'ell can't face him, thinking about what I think I'm 'earing, bout a 'friendship' between Cally, Louie and Marya. Don't think my nerves can 'andle contemplatin' that!"} Part of him did ruefully acknowledge that it wasn't his 'nerves' that gave a hard twitch at the idea. Part of his mind drifted to a 'friendship' between himself, Caeide and a certain brown eyed fawn, (sure as hell couldn't be a 'friendship' between himself, Caeide and a big brown eagle, that was for sure; there'd be eagle feathers spread the breadth and depth of any room they were in together for any period of time; what Hogan had never realized was that she'd been on her very best behavior when they'd met, for Peter's sake; couldn't count on that continuing forever!

He'd wondered, after Coura had talked about those reserved spots on that hill of shallow graves, the ones with names already showing, and wondered if he might not recognize the name on one of them.) and he lost himself, drifting, til an insistant, "Corporal, I asked you a question! How did she know about Marya?" from the Colonel.

He shook himself, blushing, bringing himself back to the present, "well, Caeide mentioned at that time that her cousin Cally was mentoring with a Russian woman, same time she was mentoring with me; guess it could have been Marya; stranger things 'ave 'appened," looking up innocently. Hogan let out a snarl that would have better suited 'the Dragon's sister,' and went back to leaning on the door, with a sour look on his face.

***Well, I have to go now, we are practicing with Rodney in a few minutes, climbing, I think. Douglas doesn't much like heights, so that's not his favorite thing, but Rodney says that just means he needs to get better at the technical part, since the instinct isn't there. I used to be really good at it, but the past couple of years, I've, well, I'm not as evenly balanced any more, and it throws me off on the climbing and jumping and such, and I really have to be careful when we are practicing archery. Needless to say, I have a much better appreciation for the Amazons now! Rodney says it's the same as with Douglas, but different, that I just have to learn to compensate.***

Andrew looked up at Peter, with a confused look on his face, and Peter grimmaced, making the rounded motions at the top of his chest to clue Andrew in to what the girl was saying. Andrew's eyes grew big and he nodded. Kinch chuckled at the look on his face, and shook his head in amusement at his blush.

***It was really difficult, though, and I asked Meg if I couldn't just strap them down or something, and she laughed and told me, "Sure, just be sure to carry stuff with you, and next time you're in a situation when you have to climb or jump or use the bow, on the spur of the moment, just tell everyone to 'hold the action, I need to strap myself down', and I laughed with her when I realized how silly my suggestion had been. And I just don't see going the route the Amazons went, even if they only did one, not both! Speaking of the Amazons, I'm still trying to research what I heard about Amazons and babies; I'm just not sure I can believe that, though I know it happens in some other species, like some frogs and lizards and such. But surely they DID need guys for that! Seems they'd miss a lot of the fun otherwise. I know they didn't keep any guys around their villages, so probably more like a Black Widow Spider, though that doesn't sound too good either, at least not for the guys! Or maybe just like the Spartans? With separate villages and all? I think I like our way a lot better.***

Andrew again looked at Peter, who was now starting to become a little tired of being the interpreter. Olsen took pity on him and interjected, "Andrew, the Amazons were warriors, all women; they fought with spears, but mostly with bows and arrows, and they cut off the breast that interferred with drawing the bow."

Andrew's mouth fell open and he looked at Peter for confirmation. "Wow, maybe I'd better write and tell her not to do that! She wouldn't really, would she?!" To which Peter could only reply, "with that lot, who knows, but I'd think it not likely; they tend to get a lot of use outta them, seemingly," with a wide smirk, before realizing he'd started Andrew on a train of thought that would only lead to more questions he wasn't interested in answering. Andrew wrinkled up his brow and thought real hard, and his eyes got huge. "Really???!! Peter, do you think . . .?" Peter groaned, and shook his head; "how do I get myself in these situations?!" }

***Well, bye now, and I'll write again soon.

Coura***

Newkirk made it a point to discover some serious mending that needed doing for the next several hours; he just wasn't quite up to facing Andrew and his newest list of questions, he just wasn't!


End file.
